My Early Thoughts On Dynaman For The First Nine Episodes

It's time for DYNAMAN! Oops wrong tagline! That was long ago when I enjoyed viewing the Dynaman Parody Dub. What's a pleasant surprise was that while Millionfold Curiosity is subbing Gavan (and they've got 24 episodes available, woohoo!) is that they've released Dynaman's first nine episodes. Well it's time to say goodbye Dynaman Parody Dub and in for the real deal.

What are my thoughts on Dynaman with the first nine episodes? The show itself has some of the characteristics of some older Super Sentai series like it's really got the over-the-top action from the main cast and stuntmen, weird sense of humor and a lot of stuff you might not see in most of later Super Sentai and Power Rangers. A lot of the members here do stunts that really require a lot more training than most Super Sentai/Power Rangers cast members today. I guess that's why it's called Dynaman as in Dynamite or Dynamic. Besides, some of the action scenes that I'm seeing right now from the first few Dynaman episodes are really dynamic. So much action that's missing in a lot of modern day Tokusatsu in general.


Well it's time for me to get familiar with the heroes and not by their dub names. You have Hokuto Dan/Dyna Red, Ryu Hoshikawa/Dyna Black, Yousuke Shiima/Dyna Blue, Nango Kosaku/Dyna Yellow and Rei Tachibana/Dyna Pink. This was also the time when red sworsdmen really got tested to a whole new level of awesome. Unlike most of Dyna Red's later successors, Dyna Red's respective weapon are the two Dyna Swords with one shorter than the other. It felt like the use of the Italian long sword and dagger. The concept was taken into Timeranger and Time Force with the use of the Chrono Sabers and Vector Sabers but each ranger had one. This was another time when legendary Kazuo Niibori did some sword fighting lessons and whipping out the sword as a red ranger. Everyone's getting that tough. Ryu's a ninja and I mean a tough ninja. Yousuke's got aquatic skills that's not easy to match. Nango really fires knows how to fire a gun that fast. Rei really has her fencing abilities which makes her stand out.


For the Dyna Robo, I really think it's really one of the weirdest main robots or Megazords ever designed for Super Sentai. Then again, it's the 80s and there's a lot of funny designs. Maskman had tit guns for Galaxy Robo, Changeman's Change Robo was also pretty funny looking, Goggle V's Goggle Robo and maybe I can name some of them just come out weird. Some combinations back then are just weird, weird and weird like the super clunky Super Turbo Robo which was Turbo Robo and Turbo Rugger combined. Note though Dynaman is among those shows that had only ONE Megazord throughout the whole season. Flashman was the first show to introduce a secondary robo which took place after Changeman. Battle Fever J up to Changeman only had one giant robot for the whole show.


Unlike some other 80s Super Sentai villains that I saw, I feel like the Evilution Empire feels kind of campy but written in a way that's not disappointing. Maybe they're not much of a bunch of nitwits like the Shadow Line in ToQGer, the Gaiarc in Go-onger or the Bowzock in Carranger. But one thing's for sure, I felt like laughing at some of the scenes. For instance, Emperor Aton may be voiced by the late Takeshi Watabe with that fearsome voice I love but he's done a good job in not being scary. Prince Megiddo may have his funny moments but he's also a vicious villain. General Karr is acted by Masashi Ishibashi who's got a lot of cool moments. I also find Princess Chimera to have her funny moments while she's still a threat with her use of sorcery.

I also felt there's some kind of symbolism with the Evilution Empire especially they're dressed like feudal Japanese. While their story starts out that they were evolved from some meteor, reptiles and later became tailed humans who hate those without tails, I felt there's some kind of symbolism. I wonder if Toei was really trying to remind everyone in Japan of the wrongs of Imperial Japan that time or backwards thinking can happen even when you've got the technology? Sure the Jashinka have their high technology that requires a super genius to beat them but they're possibly backwards thinkers in their own way. I guess they can't accept the fact that imperialistic monarchy died out in Japan and they seek to restore it under their name. But that's just entirely a wild, wild guess.

Dynaman is one of the earlier attempts to explore the concept of evolution and ancient mankind in science fiction. Later Toei series that tried to explore evolution as one of the recurring themes within a season were Zyuranger, Ohranger, Kamen Rider Agito, Power Rangers Time Force (no, don't look for mutants in Timeranger), Abaranger, Kamen Rider Faiz and Kamen Rider Gaim. To add, should we also include Jiban (the show also featured mutant villains and maybe, just maybe Dr. Giba inspired Ransik's existence in Time Force) which also took place in the 80s? So far, I'm liking the first nine episodes but there's still some stuff I'm waiting for namely GoGoV's got five more episodes to go then I might write a review on my thoughts on the series, there's still Changeman and Flashman from Grown Ups In Spandex, I'd want more Janperson from Megabeast Empire and some Zyuohger and Kamen Rider Ghost.